DURHAM, N.C. — As valuable as the lesson of learning what it takes to win in Cameron Indoor Stadium may be in the long run for Virginia Tech, it came in painful fashion Tuesday in a 66-48 loss at No. 6 Duke.

Tech (9-18, 2-13 Atlantic Coast Conference) opened the game with ice-cold shooting from the floor and fell behind by 20 points in the first 11 minutes on the way to its 13th loss in the last 14 games.

Playing its fifth game in 11 days, Duke wasn't sharp on the offensive end as a team, but forward Rodney Hood's 21 points and a stout, pressing defensive effort was enough to finish off a 32nd consecutive win at home.

"The problem was that was a very good team that was fired up and ready to go," said Tech coach James Johnson, whose team shot 42.6 percent from the floor and committed 15 turnovers. "We started two freshmen out there. I thought they were a little shell-shocked to start with just the environment."

Freshman forward Trevor Thompson scored 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor to go along with six rebounds and three steals to lead Tech. No other player scored in double figures for Tech. C.J. Barksdale and Jarell Eddie, who didn't score in the first half, each finished with nine points.

After starting the game 2 of 14 from the floor, and falling behind 24-4 with 9:48 left in the first half, Tech looked like it might have a tough time reaching double digits by halftime. C.J. Barksdale helped inject some life into Tech on the offensive end.

Barksdale scored all nine of his points in a 2 1/2-minute span to ignite a 12-2 run by Tech, cutting Duke's advantage to 26-16 with 4:21 remaining in the first half. Tech wasn't able to cut the deficit to single digits before halftime and Duke (23-6, 12-4) went to the locker room ahead 32-20.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski worried his team might relent a bit after taking the big early lead, and though he was right to a certain extent, Tech didn't have enough energy or depth in the backcourt to stay in the game. Tech was playing without injured guards Adam Smith and Ben Emelogu.

"Sometimes that's bad," said Krzyzewski of his team's big early cushion. "I'll take it all the time and try to deal with the consequences, but you let up a little bit."

Though Tech's 2-3 zone was able to cause freshman forward Jabari Parker some trouble on the offensive end, he still managed to finish with a double-double. He had 11 points on 3 of 11 shooting, 12 rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

Duke only shot 38.7 percent from the floor, but it held a 36-30 rebounding advantage, including 14-4 cushion on the offensive glass. Duke scored 22 points off Tech's 15 turnovers.

"We just came out slow, just kind of sluggish," Thompson said. "We didn't really have the intensity, because Duke, they're going to give their best shot. They know what's on their jerseys. They represent a legacy of winning, so they're going to come out to play, and we didn't match that same intensity and we just let them jump on us early."

Tech managed to chip away at Duke's lead in the second half, cutting the lead to single digits on a few occasions in the first seven minutes before Duke answered with big 3-point shots by Rasheed Sulaimon and Andre Dawkins to quickly regain double-digit leads. Sulaimon made 4 of 9 shots from 3-point range to account for the majority of his 15 points.

After a layup by Joey van Zegeren with 11:05 left, Tech sliced Duke's lead to 51-40, but the Hokies' lack of depth took a toll down the stretch.

Tech would miss its next six shots and wouldn't connect on another field goal until Thompson made a layup with 2:45 remaining. By that stage, Duke had taken control. Thompson's layup only served to trim Duke's lead to 63-46.

"You're going to have some runs, and they're going to have some runs, but fighting back against them was tough," said van Zegeren, who had eight points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

"It takes a lot out of you, and you get a little tired, but I don't think that should really be an excuse. We're basketball players. We practice a lot. We practice every day, so getting tired can't be an excuse."

DURHAM, N.C. — Duke recently completed one of the most taxing stretches in ACC basketball history. The unknown was, how would the sixth-ranked Blue Devils respond to some actual R&R and Tuesday's home game against an overmatched opponent?

As grueling as the recent four games in eight days was for No. 6 Duke, which included contests at North Carolina and against No. 1 Syracuse, there's no Blue Devils sympathy from Virginia Tech coach James Johnson and his players.

As trainers carted Jerry Ugokwe off the Unitas Stadium field last November, William and Mary football coach Jimmye Laycock couldn't avoid the thought: His team's entire starting offensive line, a group with so much promise and youth, was wiped out by injury.

Robbie Babb posted his third and fourth victories of the season with a clean sweep of twin 30-lap Modified races, the featured events of Saturday evening’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program at Langley Speedway.